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Recovery Forums – A Tool Against The Family

For those of us of the opinion that the family as a concept is being pounded on with a battering ram, it’s easy to see how the ever-expanding identification of abuse (especially emotional) is aiding this ”progressive” quest. After years of observing this phenomenon, its role in isolating individuals within society is becoming clear.

Besides the fact that their gains are sometimes financial – for example, forums which charge for membership or sell a lot of improvised material – they are, even if not admittedly, part of the crusade to elevate one’s transitory feelings to the rank of absolute truths, which is a typical SJW attitude.

Eager to capitalise on grief and confusion, these groups resemble ambulance chasers, mastering the art of convincing people to see victimhood in murky situations, in order to cash in on the profits.

Akin to talented divorce lawyers, they strongly encourage exaggerating the harm one has experienced through rejection, emotional unavailability, instability, lack of support, criticism etc – thus making it easy for those who are momentarily displeased with a significant other to think they should consider cutting contact altogether.

A few examples of the fallout of wrongfully identifying a significant other as a sociopath, psychopath or narcissist:

People going through a difficult time in a viable relationship or marriage can freak out and give up, to later regret it.

Break-ups and divorces can escalate into a huge mess, with children being particularly affected by a parent’s suspicion that their ex is disordered, which can escalate into hysteria.

Parents can end up alienating children from their former spouses, to later realise the mistake, as well as extended family.

Adults can disassociate from their parents or siblings due to grievances they’ve kept hidden for years, suddenly convinced they are dealing with something more serious.

Teenagers can be – very easily – persuaded that the difficult relationships they have with family members (who often fail to provide emotional support at an optimal level) are in fact abusive.

Impressionable young people in general can start seeing disordered types everywhere and have an even more difficult time integrating into society.

To complete the process of isolation, another list of attitudes pushed by these groups as healthy, conducive towards healing.

Spending one’s precious energy overanalysing every word, gaze or gesture they receive on a daily basis, in order to identify hidden intentions (and finding oneself accurately described in the DSM as a result).

Blaming one’s upbringing almost exclusively for the decisions taken in real time.

Demonising any friends who show difficult behaviour and eliminating them from one’s life straight away.

Once out of a romantic relationship, ossifying selection criteria which make sure one will run scared of most potential partners.

Living with a pervasive sense of danger in relation to the outside world.

Unearthing mistakes made years ago by others, which are no longer relevant (excluding serious maltreatment which affects a person for life).

Identifying as a victimised empath to the point of muddying one’s sense of responsibility in everyday life and absolving oneself of all blame for one’s troubles, regardless of their nature or importance.

This is not only prevalent in romantic relationships, which are the prime target nowadays, our culture inviting people to wallow in dissatisfaction and constantly scrutinise their partners for the smallest clue of wrongdoing. It is reaching far beyond, as many start to analyse their past, sticking labels on those who raised them, in a bid to rid themselves of negative influences. As someone who has partaken in this hysteria, seeing it as a personal quest at the time, I can safely argue it has become a fad, and a dangerous one at that.

There is a positive way of going about changing toxic attitudes one has inherited from previous generations; that is part of self-improvement and a noble goal. The catch is trying, to one’s best ability, to understand those attitudes in their original context, instead of judging previous generations by today’s standards, in Maoist fashion, eager to write off any wisdom passed on by them. As usual, balance is the key to everything.

People have grievances, from the mundane to long term issues which need addressed. Leaving them to fester in the basement of unacknowledged needs or frustrations can make them seem insurmountable; at times they rise to the surface like an overflowing septic tank, bringing a person into a state of crisis. This is not necessarily, in real time, the fault of those who share their life, though it might feel or appear that way – hence separation is not necessarily a solution to anything.

For abuse recovery communities, knowing just what buttons to push at just the right time is guaranteed to reel in some potential believers.

In this bid, they discourage forgiveness, open-mindedness and empathy, feeding one’s need for validation right away, before even having enough data regarding each case. Evidently, this does a major disfavour to those who are simply mistaking and would benefit from objective advice (though it is difficult to be objective with so little insight, which is why I’m against seeking advice on the internet on such complex, delicate matters). Rage and bitterness are parasites of the mind; they end up consuming their hosts.

No one on the internet is able to understand your exact situation. It’s impossible. Even if you wrote a novel for them to read, you still wouldn’t be able to paint the entire picture – let alone in a few paragraphs posted anonymously.

What they do is look for buzzwords which trigger them and identify with your feelings, without accurately understanding the cause (which might be unknown to you as well). It’s not you inviting them into your reality; it’s them dragging you into theirs.

They start by encouraging you to refer to yourself as a survivor of abuse. This label becomes part of your identity and, depending on how consumed you are by it, it can take over. For those who still post daily about ”their P’s”, some of whom exited the stage years ago, the label ”survivor” has doubtlessly become their identity. How toxic is that? If you were a woman who divorced Bob five years ago, when asked to introduce yourself, you would not say, ad infinitum, I’m Bob’s ex-wife or I’m the one Bob stood up at the altar or I’m the one Bob’s mother always hated. It’s the same thing; defining yourself by what you meant to someone else or what that person did to you.

That takes away from your real identity, from your energy and vitality, not to mention optimism and confidence.

Last but not least, one has to consider that calling a loved one a psychopath or narcissist, especially publicly or over a prolonged period of time, can end up in a permanent rupture, which wouldn’t necessarily happen with other insults or grievances. It’s a very strong statement to make and should not be made lightly, especially at the nudge of an internet community.

The internet might seem like an immediate source of relief and comfort when we are dissatisfied with those closest to us; at times we end up using it in this sense for trivial reasons. It’s far too easy nowadays to air one’s underpants for all to see, only to regret it later. But at the end of the day, it’s those same people we collaborate with day in and day out; when it comes right down to it, we have them and they have us, through thick and thin (genuine cases excluded, of course).

The thought that we can get a balanced perspective on our intimate problems from complete strangers is a mirage, an illusion, as the only ones able to solve them are those who are directly involved.

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3 thoughts on “Recovery Forums – A Tool Against The Family”

Another thing I noted on one of the online forums, particularly, is the emphasis on SELF. Look after YOURSELF. Do great things for YOURSELF. Self, self, and more self. As if the answer to living in an atomized, increasingly self focused world, is to become more self focused ourselves–in other words, they tend to encourage narcissism as a way of healing.

They also don’t take real world problems, like financial limitations, into account when encouraging people to go ‘no contact.’

Women with children, in particular, living in an economic environment that is becoming more hostile by the day, can’t go ‘no contact.’

To encourage someone with children to leave their mate, when they, as a couple, have serious problems, (but not necessarily serious pathologies) is irresponsible and kind of cruel.

Totally agree it feeds the social misery industry, to an alarming degree.

The backlash from the, ‘psychopaths among us,’ mentality could prove to be more damaging than we can imagine. The irresponsible forums, like ‘Psychopath Free,’ are a red flag of growing fascist sentiment among the stressed, confused and economically displaced general population, seeking out relatively easy answers.

Thank you as well. It’s great to see that there are still people not being fooled by this generalisation of what is irreparable.

Breaking away out of ambition is no proof of emancipation; at some point your heart goes cold and miserable. At times it’s frightening to wonder how much of my attitude is rooted in my true nature and how much is influenced by this current glamorisation of loneliness and separation. Even during the 90’s I used to notice a sweeping tide of music glamorising break-ups when caused by someone’s ”strenght” to ”not settle for less than they deserve if they could find more somewhere else.” Female singers in particular emphasised how ”great” it feels to be free, strong, defiant etc. But I believe this is not real female nature and at some point this culturally induced inebriation fades and you’re left missing sharing your life with someone. This idea that you can throw people into the dustbin and carry on happily is not realistic.

And these forums are trying to sell this idea tho those who are, in general, sensitive (if not hypersensitive) and loving people. Fair enough, some of them are in (or out of) genuinely toxic relationships, but the rest are just confused, yet are lumped into the ”hopeless” category after a short description in which they only list the negative.

At least on PF, they avoid responsibility by claiming ”it was you who decided this person was a psychopath in the first place”. Yes, it was me who decided, based on the confusing information YOU put out there, which was meant to draw in as many people as possible.

Also, I was thinking the other day how sad it is that we have societal ”forces” such as feminist organisations and MRA’s turning men and women against each other. As far as I know, men’s rights organisations are a normal reaction to the grotesque octopus feminism has become, so I have nothing bad to say about them – but still, this is so, so sad.